Bird Cramer and Elinor Boisvert Demo- "Who Are You?"

Who AreYou?  

Bird Cramer, Teacher Consultant                                                       Elinor Boisvert, Teacher Consultant                                            

4th-8th Grade Teacher,  Peachtown Elementary School                Support Teacher, Dewitt Middle School

anne.cramer@7vwp.com                                                                      elinor.boisvert@7vwp.com

The Big Idea

Adolescents construct their identities through relationships with their peers, the school environment, and their teachers. It is important to build a classroom community as soon as possible.  A way to understand how these identities form is to construct identity posters to create a museum in the classroom.  These identity posters can be used  to form relationships and thread together common interests to start to create community. It will also give the teacher a window into others’ perceptions of self, giving each other a breath of others’ interests.

Method

Step One: Two minute free write; answer the question “Who Are You?”

Step Two: Look at your writing and share one thing with the group

Step Three:  Five minutes:  Go back and review what you wrote.  Pick your hotspots, expand on these, and give examples.

Step Four: Getting into groups of three, share what you wrote with each other. As you listen to the people in your group, jot down your impressions.

Step Five: Using magazines, papers, and markers, make identity collages based on what you wrote: a visual representation of yourself.  You can pick from your hot spots or you may revisit your writing

Step Six:  When you are done, hang up your collage.

Step Seven: Using post-it notes, we will conduct a gallery walk for ten minutes. Comment on as many posters as you can.

Step Eight: Chose one or all of these writing prompts- For three to five minutes, write about:

1. How would you use this in your classroom?
2. Dump your brain (how are you feeling)
3. What are your thoughts about the process?

Step Nine: Choose one idea to share with the whole group

The Wrap

Creating a classroom community is a long process.  Through their “Who Are You?” collages, students instantly see themselves in their classroom and can begin to collaborate with peers and teachers. In this teaching demonstration we used the write-talk-write model to think through ideas and collaborate. The writing we did was not graded, but was used as a means to engage in thinking and discussion. By working together we were able to create a useful “product” specifically tailored to our own individual needs. This model works here, and it works in classrooms!

Thank you for your time and willingness to write, share, think, speak, and listen. If you have any questions about this teaching demonstration, the Seven Valleys Writing Project, or just want to talk about teaching, please contact us by email. anne.cramer@7vwp.com or elinor.boisvert@7vwp.com